Muscovado Sugar Orange and Cardamom Easter Wreath

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One of the most comforting aromas for me is the one of freshly baked bread emanating from the oven and filling the house with it’s sweet, yeasty perfumes. I live in Germany and have the most wonderful variety of fresh bread available from an abundance of several bakeries to choose from. I am spoilt for choice. The short distance I drive each day from home to work, which is about 4 kilometers, there are 6 bakeries, 2 of which offer organic bread and baked treats. Yes I am spoilt for choice. 

Therefore, it won’t come as a surprise that I do not often bake bread at home. Currently all the bakeries have started to display their goods for Easter and it seems to me each one is trying to outdo the other with more extravagant pastries, cookies and breads. Often Soeren and I will stand in front of the glass counter and feel overwhelmed by the opulent offerings.

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We drool, but somehow our cravings are not satisfied. We were craving something simpler with delicate flavors - not opulent but simple yet aromatic. On a lazy Sunday we decided to make our own Easter bread and in between homework, Monopoly and Soeren’s private guitar concert for me the dough was kneaded, had time to rise beautifully and bake to a perfect golden color.

We polished half of it on the same afternoon with a variety of preserves and fresh butter - more we did not need. It was breakfast in the middle of the day and we loved it.

On Saturday I’ll be off to Dubai and I am totally excited as I will be relaxing in the luxury of my parents affection and will indulge in them spoiling Soeren and me to bits. I am also really looking forward to holding the workshop at the Atlantis, The Palm on the 3rd and 4th and meeting all the participants, some of them coming from Egypt, Bahrain and Kuwait. My presentations are all ready and so are the exercises and assignments and I am filled with anticipation of meeting Sally, who has been awesome in organizing this event. She has also organized a fantastic blogger dinner on the 7th April and all those in the area, we’d love for you to join us. Quite a few have already signed up and if you would like to come over to Zaroob for some divine Lebanese food here is the Facebook event page where you can sign up.

In other exciting news: I am now a Banana Fusion cover girl ;o). Banana Fusion is a magazine from Canada, which brings both worlds of entertainment and food and the articles deal with photography, modeling and food. I really enjoyed the interview with them as the questions were not the usual type but went slightly deeper. You can read the interview here. Hope you enjoy it! For me the comment left by my dad on the interview just blew me away! Love you dad! Also thanks to Gabriel, the Director at Banana Fusion for putting this together.

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This Easter wreath is based on the traditional Greek Easter bread called Tsoureki, which is served at the Easter meal. The Greeks make several of these wreaths as gifts and for celebrations during the Easter festivities. Traditionally Tsoureki will have red boiled eggs tucked into pockets in between the twists. I tucking the eggs into the bread and flavored it generously with cardamom and orange peel. Just before baking I sprinkled muscovado sugar on top, which gave it a lovely caramelized flavor and a gorgeous sunkissed tanned color. Enjoy it warm with lots of fresh butter.

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If you are looking for more ideas for your Easter celebrations I have a small selection for you here. Hope you enjoy my recommendations.

Recipe: Muscovado Sugar Orange and Cardamom Easter Wreath

Printable version of recipe here

 Muscovado Sugar and Cardamom Easter Wreath by Meeta K. Wolff

Prep Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour 40 minutes
Serves: approx. 10

Ingredients:

  • 500g all-purpose flour
  • 21g dried yeast
  • Pinch of salt
  • 125ml milk
  • 2 eggs, lightly beaten plus extra for brushing
  • 50g caster sugar
  • Finely grated zest of 3 orange
  • 2 ½ teaspoon ground cardamom powder
  • 75g softened butter, coarsely chopped
  • 2 tablespoon muscovado sugar

Method:

  1. Roll up your sleeves. Combine flour, yeast and pinch of salt in a bowl. Form a well in the center, then add milk, eggs, caster sugar, orange zest, ground cardamom and 100ml lukewarm water and mix until you get a soft, pliable dough. This should take about 5 to 8 minutes. Gradually add butter, a little at a time, mixing until the butter is nicely incorporated. Lightly grease the bowl and cover with a damp cloth. Place in a warm place and allow to rise until double in size – 40 minutes.

  2. Knock back the dough and divide into three equal parts. Roll each piece into a long cylinder about 40 cm long. Braid the pieces together, bringing the ends together to for a wreath. Squeeze the ends to seal properly. Place the wreath on a baking tray lined with baking paper and set aside to for 20 minutes to prove.

  3. In the meantime preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Brush the wreath with eggwash and sprinkle with the muscovado sugar.

  4. Bake wreath for 20 to 30 minutes until it has a lovely golden color. Cool on a wire rack, serve with butter and favorite preserves.

Verdict

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We love this bread for it’s divine aromatic flavors. Cardamom and orange mingle together harmoniously and the sugary, caramelized top provides a slight sweetness. Pull apart the soft morsels and spread with butter and favorite preserves. It’s light yet wonderful luxurious and ideal for breaking the long Lenten fast.

Wishing you all a great week and weekend ahead. I will take a short break from this space but will be sharing a few insights of the workshop and of Dubai over on my Facebook photography page and on the 3rd and 4th we’ll be live tweeting from the Atlantis during the course of the workshop using this handle #foodphotoAtlantis, so stay tuned.

More breads & treats from WFLH:

Lingonberry Dark Chocolate Buns Cinnamon Kissed Apple Goji Berry Strudel Rømmevafler: Norwegian Sour Cream Waffles with Brunost and Cloudberry Cream


All photographs and written content on What's For Lunch, Honey? © 2006-2012 Meeta Khurana Wolff unless otherwise indicated. | All rights reserved | Please Ask First

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27 comments:

  1. Love the colour on top of bread.
    Wonderful interview and beautiful click on the cover :)

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  2. A gorgeous bread! I love those flavors. So festive.

    Congratulations on the interview and feature! It was a very interesting read...

    Cheers,

    Rosa

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  3. It looks amazing. We have something similar in Hungary at Easter time.

    Congratulaitons on the interview. I read it earlier.

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  4. Absolutely love it Meeta...love the flavors..im thinking of making hot cross buns but might try yr bread flavors as well ;-)Have a blast in Dubai!!!

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  5. Congrats on the interview.
    And thats a lovely recipe, the pics are stunning

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  6. Congrats on the magazine feature. Love the cover shot :)

    Mmmm.. delicious looking wreath bread.

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  7. This bread is divine. Nothing beats baking at home though I wish to have the bakeries in my neighborhood as you do. Congrats on the lovely feature!

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  8. Congrats on the cover! How cool! This wreath looks lovely as well :)

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  9. Congratulations on the cover feature Meeta..
    You look gorgeous!
    And that's one neat wreath..

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  10. Love the bread..homemade bread is just that special! Congrats on the magazine feature! You Rock!

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  11. Meeta this bread looks amazing, and a wonderful centerpiece for any Easter table. Congratulations on your magazine feature too! Very well deserved, and you look gorgeous on the cover there :D

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  12. Thank you all very much for all your comments and glad you like the wreath - it's wonderfully delicate and flavorful and perfect for the occasion. Also a huge thanks for the wishes regarding the magazine cover. You rock!

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  13. Lovely Bread and Hearty Congratulation for your interview in magazine.. Many more to come :)
    And one more thing you are inspiration to me and many more like me.. thx for all your beautiful post..

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  14. What a beautiful bake!! Congratulations on being a covergirl!! :)

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  15. Congratulations on the magazine feature! That bread looks wonderful, love the brown!

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  16. What a wonderful cover! Congrats on everything. Love this wreath. Cardamom is my fav. It's beautiful!

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  17. What a fantastic photo of you and an honor to be interviewed!

    I am envious of your bakery selection!

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  18. hi, I am about to bake this wonderful wreath for Easter, but I have 1 question regarding the ingredients: flour is mentioned twice (500g of all-purpose and 200g of plain): so all in all I have to use 700g of flour, that's right?

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  19. Hi Alabaster, Sorry no that does not seem to be right and it's was an error on my part. I've corrected the ingredient list now! Thanks for pointing that out.

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  20. What a gorgeous loaf! And look at you gracing that magazine cover! You're famous!!

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  21. The bread is beautiful and sounds delicious! And congrats on your feature!

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  22. This bread looks delicious. Great pictures. I may just have to try making this one day. Very nice magazine cover.

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  23. I just needed an idea what to prepare for Easter, because this year I feel inspired to do a little baking!

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  24. What a perfect easter treat...
    This bread looks gorgeous!!!

    Congrats on ur interview Meeta, really lovely read...
    I love ur picture on the cover, you look awesome in that!!!

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  25. Meeta! You gorgeous girl you! I love the cover shot!! And thanks for reminding me that I need to start baking bread again soon :)

    Hope you had a happy Easter!

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  26. i love your blog. You make such great recipes! i'll be here more often now! :)

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Thank you for visiting What's For Lunch, Honey? and taking time to browse through my recipes, listen to my ramblings and enjoy my photographs. I appreciate all your comments, feedback and input. I will answer your questions to my best knowledge and respond to your comments as soon as possible.

In the meantime I hope you enjoy your stay here and that I was able to make this an experience for your senses.

Hugs
Meeta